Auguste Bazille (27 May 1828 – 18 April 1891) was a French organist, composer, and professor of music.

Career

Auguste Bazille was a brilliant student at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

(1st prize in music theory, 1841; harmony 1845; fugue, 1846; organ, 1847; 2nd Grand

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

). He led a triple career as an organist, "chef de chant" at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

, and professor of practical harmony and accompaniment at the Conservatoire. Appointed to the new

Suret Suret ( syr, ܣܘܪܝܬ) ( �su:rɪtʰor �su:rɪθ, also known as Assyrian or Chaldean, refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by ethnic Assyrians, including those identifying as religious groups rather than eth ...

organ at the in Paris in 1853, he was a close friend of Suret (best man at Augustus Suret's marriage in 1855). He inaugurated several of their instruments from 1848. An appreciated improviser, he was often called for organ inaugurations in Paris and in the provinces ( église Saint-Sulpice Paris, 1862,

Saint-Eustache, Paris The Church of St. Eustache, Paris (french: église Saint-Eustache) is a church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The present building was built between 1532 and 1632. Situated near the site of Paris' medieval marketplace (Les Halles) and rue ...

, 1854, église Saint-Germain-des-Prés Paris, and Rouen, Toulouse, Nancy ...). As "chef de chant" at the

, he was close to the Parisian milieu of opera and opéra comique. In particular, he was a close friend of

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

and

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

(he played the organ for the funeral of Bizet), of

Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

(he played the organ at the wedding of his daughter). Bazille reduced numerous opera scores of the nineteenth century, from Adam to Wagner, to

vocal score The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

s (for voice and piano). He also wrote a few original compositions for voice, piano and

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

. As a teacher of practical harmony at the piano (piano accompaniment), Bazille had many students, the most famous among them being the composers

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and

Mélanie Bonis Mélanie Hélène Bonis, known as Mel Bonis (21 January 1858 – 18 March 1937), was a prolific French late-Romantic composer. She wrote more than 300 pieces, including works for piano solo and four hands, organ pieces, chamber music, ''mélodies' ...

Bibliography

* Joël-Marie Fauquet (ed.): ''Dictionnaire de la musique en France au XIXe'' (Paris: Fayard, 2003). * Christophe d'Alessandro: "Orgues, Musiques et Musiciens à Sainte-Élisabeth", ''La Flûte Harmonique'', no. 91 (2010). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bazille, Auguste 1828 births 1891 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical organists French male classical composers French male organists French Romantic composers Musicians from Paris Male classical organists 19th-century organists